Okonomi-yaki

When I went to Tokyo two summers ago, my friend/host said I had to try Okonomi-yaki. It was my first introduction to Japanese food that wasn’t sushi or soba. We went to a restaurant that had flat stovetops in the middle of each table and we had to mix the batter and ingredients ourselves. Par for the course at an Okonomi-yaki restaurant, but I didn’t know that then. It was a lot of fun! I returned to California packing Okonomi-yaki flour and bonito flakes so I could give my boyfriend a taste of Tokyo. Despite being weirded out by the way the fish flakes come to life when sprinkled on top of hot food, he liked it—which means it’s probably safe for picky eaters everywhere.

Yesterday I had a craving. But my leftover flour was 2 years old, which meant a trip to the Japanese market for supplies. After a lot of hesitant searching, I found my flour (a mix of yams and fishy things that our American flour can’t quite replicate), bonito dashi (fish soup stock), and genuine Okonomi sauce—I had to make that from scratch last time. Here is my recipe with alternatives for the harder to find ingredients. But you have to try to find bonito flakes, because there’s no substitute and they’re way too entertaining to leave out. It’s common to put mayonnaise as a topping with the Okonomi sauce, but that sounds disgusting. Feel free to try it-let me know how it goes.

The beauty of Okonomi-yaki is that it literally means “what you like-cooked.” You can put almost anything in here, and there are a ton of regional variations. I like mine with seafood. Shrimp and squid go particularly well, but I could only find shrimp at the store.
Okonomiyaki
4 servings (or 2 large pancakes)

Ingredients:

1 cup okonomi-yaki flour (you can also use basic pancake batter or flour)

3/4 cup bonito dashi (or chicken or veggie soup broth)
1 egg
2 handfuls shredded cabbage (coleslaw mix has carrots already in it)

(optional) 1 carrot, grated

½ bunch green onions, chopped

1/2 cup crab meat
10 shrimp

Top with: okonomi sauce*
Dried bonito shavings, aka. fish flakes

Directions:
1. Mix the flour, dashi, egg, crab and cabbage in a large bowl.

2. Heat some oil in pan and cook 5 shrimp until both sides are pink but the interior is still translucent.

3. Pour in mixture and top with the bacon slices.

4. Cook on medium heat until golden brown on both sides, about 5-15 minutes per side.

5. Top with okonomi sauce and bonito flakes.

*If okonomiyaki sauce is hard to come by, here is an easy recipe. Mix:
1/4 cup ketchup
1 1/2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1/4 teaspoon Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons sake
1 teaspoon soy sauce

The other thing I came back with from Tokyo—besides good Sake from Nikko—is the love of my life: my Nikiri Bocho. A Japanese vegetable knife bought on Kappabashi Street. I love my blades, but I haven’t once glanced at my 10” Henckel chef’s knife since I started using my Japanese blade. If you make it to Tokyo, you have to get one of these. And some fish flakes.

--AnglophileLV

Sukiyaki

Sukiyaki
I’m very picky when it comes to food; I’m extra sensitive to foul odors and staleness. That being said, this Japanese restaurant in Costa Mesa “I love Sushi” had a great thing going for it when it came to my patronage. That is, until the entire service staff got horrible. The food remained great but it was painful to go there and sadly I haven’t gone back since 2006. I crave the food there every now and then, but the horrifically pathetic service has successfully kept me away.

In my quest to find a good replacement for this restaurant, I went to several restaurants. I think I need to come clean right now before the comments are flooded with sushi suggestions: I don’t eat sushi at all. If my food smells like the ocean (seaweed), I’m outta there. On the contrary, I should try sashimi and I do enjoy the seaweed in Miso soup. Sue me. Now back to this elaborate rambling that I’ve somehow gotten myself into…yes. Anyway, I haven’t found a replacement restaurant in terms of taste and I’m sad about that but I finally took matters into my own hands and tried making dish #1 : Chicken Sukiyaki.

Here is the recipe (guesstimated), adjust condiments according to your taste.

Ingredients for the broth:
1.5 cups Chicken Stock ( I used a pinch of Bouillion cube which had salt in it).
6 Tablespoons Japanese Soy Sauce (I used Kikkoman)
5 Tablespoons Mirin (sweet rice wine type thing. Sugar is NOT a good enough substitute)
6 teaspoons sugar
5 Tablespoons Sake (mmm after eating a big bowl of this, I was passed out for a good 2 hours)


Other Ingredients all of which can be got at a Japanese Store :
Glass Noodles – made out of potato starch [Shirataki] 4-8 oz.
Napa cabbage
Snow Peas
Shitake Mushroom (I hate these Fungi but it’s always added)
White/button Mushroom
Spinach
Onions
Bean Sprouts
Scallions
Zucchini
Broccoli
Grilled Tofu [Yaki-Dofu]
Thin Slices of chicken (marinate thin slices of breast meat in mirin, soy sauce, sugar and ginger for about 1.5 hours)
Vegetable oil- about 2 tbspns


Method:
1. In a saucepan, add the broth ingredients sequentially in the order listed above. Let it heat up at each step and taste. Adjust quantity of sugar etc. according to taste.
2. In a separate pot, add some vegetable oil, just enough to coat the bottom. To this add the chicken and cook it until semi-done.
3. Toss in the Tofu, veggies, and noodles (can cook noodles before hand or it will cook in the broth) and let it gel for about a minute and then add the prepared sukiyaki broth.
4. Let all the ingredients simmer and veggies cook—takes about 10-15mins (also ensure chicken is now cooked).
5. Serve over sticky Japanese rice!
6. Also if you know how to make tempura, topping your bowl with sweet potato or pumpkin tempura = FOR THE WIN!


Sidenotes:
You can make a vegan/vegetarian version by omitting the chicken and chicken stock. I made a vegan version and it was freaking delicious.